… from an old cars parade, many months ago.
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Month: August 2012
“It’s late afternoon and you’re exiting the metro into a flock of hawkers; the lady with a bazillion different notebooks, the cart with cages of baby rabbits and birds, and if it’s winter, the yam guy. Then, before you even see the culprit, you encounter a stench that makes you wonder how a beached whale carcass managed to roll this far inland. You spot the source, an idle square of stinky tofu in a wok across the street. And even as someone who professes “don’t knock until you try” and “don’t be an ugly tourist,” when I first smelled stinky tofu two years ago, I just about blurted out, “who the f*** would eat this stuff?”
shanghaiist nails it! :)
we tried it back in 2009, at my chinese teacher’s insistence… you can read what we though of it here.
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a surprise in a flour package
today, while unlocking our bikes, paulo noticed something was tucked on the back rack of his. it looked like trash that someone had put there, but upon closer inspection, we discovered what seemed to be an empty package of (bio!) flour, all rolled-up. strange…
when opening it, he found what looked like a shiny new bike dynamo inside – and then he noticed the dynamo on his own bike was dangling, broken. someone probably knocked it off, and then bought a new one, which they left there, in disguise.
so instead of being cross about it, today i’m actually quite proud of the neighbourhood! :)
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happy accidents
that’s me, on the left, on a christmas play with some of my primary school friends. my school, a sort of day-school (externato) with a religious undertone, organised very elaborate events for the holidays, with choir singing and historical recreations. everybody was involved, in some way or another, and all the parents came to the event. i remember i used to be good friends with the girls in the photo, but we’ve slowly lost touch with the years and the distance.
during summer last year, i had a scheduled surgery to remove a small sebaceous cyst which was becoming a nuisance. it was a simple thing, requiring only local anaesthesia. i remember dressing in one of those hospital robes and stepping into the surgery room, where a myriad of doctors and interns awaited me, all prepped up in gowns and caps.
i sat on the bed, waiting, until one of the surgeons said: “you probably don’t remember me, but i was in your primary school class until 4th grade“. the girl removed her mask and cap and i looked at her. she had changed the color of her hair, but her face was so unexpectedly familiar! of course i remembered her! :D we kissed, and then talked throughout the operation, sharing stories and tidbits of our life in the 20 years we hadn’t seen each other. i was happy to see her again, the friend who once stood next to me on a school recital.
what are the odds, right? i thought of it again this week because of something ira glass said on his last this american life: great stories happen to those who can tell them. not that i’m a great storyteller, but i think he might be right. :)
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he runs, i bike
i cannot, for the life of me, run. i’ve tried, motivated by the boy’s good performances and general encouragement, but it just isn’t for me… after the first few hundred meters, i get tired and start feeling miserable, regretting ever putting the sneakers on. i never got runners high, and the only place i feel at ease exercising is underwater :)
so, we have a sort of deal: he runs, i bike. he usually runs for 10km, in about an hour – which feels strenuous to me, even though i’m the one sitting… but following him across parks and through garden communities, discovering a different bit of the city every time, it also gives me a sort of serenity, and time to catch up on podcasts and itunes lectures, which i quite like. all in all, a good compromise, i’d say! :)